


Shift

by Choi_Aya05



Series: Day6 Supernatural AU [10]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Discussions of death, Fox Deity Kang Younghyun, M/M, Mild Angst, Witch Park Jaehyung, i'm asking just to add tags i'm having trouble with it help, is it gay to promise your best friend you'd die with him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27752551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Choi_Aya05/pseuds/Choi_Aya05
Summary: From the very instant Younghyun had laid his eyes upon the witch, he had wanted him: to be his friend, to learn everything he knew, his quirks and ticks, to monopolize his time.They spent the years growing together.And then Younghyun wanted him, but in another way.
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Jaehyung | Jae
Series: Day6 Supernatural AU [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862596
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33
Collections: Day6 OTPs





	Shift

From the very instant Younghyun had laid his eyes upon the witch, he had wanted him: to be his friend, to learn everything he knew, his quirks and ticks, to monopolize his time.

Jae was so different from him and it was enthralling.

They spent the years growing together. Jae had been there as his anchor when Younghyun's mother deemed him capable and left. Younghyun had witnessed how Jae's features had brightened when he first succeeded in making a potion.

He was there to see Jae sprout tall like the trees.

_"I had to be away for a bit," Jae had sprung up, breathing labored from playing tag with him. The witch lied on his back, basking in the last rays of sunset, whilst Younghyun sat beside him and caught his own breath._

_Younghyun blinked. "How far away?"_

_"Two days of travel. Then we will stay there until the next full moon."_

_The next full moon. Younghyun estimated about eighteen days._

_His heart already ached._

_"Younghyun?" Jae propped himself up with his palms. His head was fell to the side in curiosity, some persistent strands of hair that had gotten unfastened from his neat braid obscuring his face. "Is there something wrong?"_

Everything, _he wanted to respond._

_"Nothing," he said instead. But Jae could read him like the books he loved to bring to Younghyun._

_"Fret not, I shall bring home gifts."_

_Home, Jae had said. Home to Younghyun._

_Younghyun adored the sound of it._

_"I should head back before dinner or mother would scold me again," Jae muttered, standing and stretching. Younghyun got up as well, giving in to the strong urge._

_"Jae."_

_Jae hummed, staring at him expectantly. He reached out to tuck the locks that so bothered him behind the witch's ear, noticing how he had to crane his neck up the tiniest bit for their eyes to make contact._

_"Since when had you grown this much?" He asked, slightly bewildered._

_"I have been taller than you for a while, what do you mean?" Jae asked, yet Younghyun could see his smugness._

_"Do not get so cocky now, witch, I can still beat you in strength any day."_

_Jae scoffed. "That was not what were talking about."_

_Younghyun made his voice squeaky, mockingly parroting,_ "that was not what we were talking about."

_"You incorrigible thing!" Jae chortled._

_Younghyun felt like he had accomplished a great feat._

Bloom like the flowers.

_Jae had always been clumsy, which was why it came as no surprise when he tripped on their way to the river._

_The surprise was the uncharacteristic squeal he had let out when Younghyun caught him by the waist._

_Younghyun normally steadied him by the arm, or let him be as a source of (sadistic) entertainment, but it had been the first part of Jae he could grab on. And by reflex he had squeezed, which seemed to be the cause of the sound._

_Younghyun, after the shock had worn off, 'smirked'. Jae paled._

_"No—ah! Stop!_ Younghyun! _I will kill you—_ stop! _"_

_But Younghyun was having too much fun with the way Jae's laughters were mixing with his screeches, his threats failing to have his desired effect. (Finding joy in how Jae fit in his arms, helplessly squirming against his chest.)_

_When he finally let up, Jae's knees had collapsed under him and he sat on the ground, panting and quiet. Younghyun watched the back of his head, thinking he had overdone it this time, when Jae turned._

_He was squinting up at him, annoyed, exertion coloring his cheeks. His thick hair, left untied for the day, was mused from their activities. The sun was dappling through the trees, illuminating him and casting shadows in all the right ways._

_Suddenly it was hard to breath._

_"What?" Jae asked, an odd look on his face. Younghyun's stupor broke. His hand dangled in front of him, almost touching Jae's cheek. He was fast to splay his fingers, acting as if he had intended to offer it in the first place._

_"We should get going," he covered up. Jae stared, and Younghyun almost fidgeted._

_"Alright." Jae grabbed the proffered hand. He loosened his hold once he was back on his feet, giving Younghyun the option to let go._

_He shouldn't have, because Younghyun refused to do so, and they arrived at their destination with his fingers laced with Jae's._

And nurture like the nature.

_It was on his way to their clearing that he spotted it: a fallen sparrow. He was desensitized to deaths as such, knowing_ _it was how the course of life flowed_ _. Everyone filled the role of either prey or predator._

_But he also knew how much Jae hated it._

_With all the tenderness he could muster, he cupped the bird in his hands and trekked the rest of the way trying not to jostle the poor thing too much._

_Jae was cooing to a pregnant deer when he arrived. Unfortunately, he was aware that his presence was considered a threat for the doe and that he would have to cut their conversation short._

_"Jae," he gently called out. The doe startled, and as expected, rushed away. He wasn't too worried; she'd find her way back to Jae soon enough._

_Jae's shoulders dropped in slight disappointment, but he gave Younghyun a kind smile. "You scared her away." He jokingly chided._

_"I apologize for that, but there is a more pressing matter."_

_"Oh?"_

_Younghyun sat beside Jae on the log and unfurled his hands. Jae took a sharp inhale. "Oh, no."_

_Usually, nature witches like Jae healed through the medicine they brew, potency enhanced by their magic. For them to heal directly with a spell was very taxing, and required ample rest._

_But without an ounce of hesitation, Jae covered his hands with both of his, the sparrow safe inside their hold. Jae closed his eyes in concentration, uttering a spell in a language Younghyun vaguely understood._

_Younghyun felt the warmth from his palms crawl up to his arms and spread through every inch of him, covering him with a light sensation, like waking up after a refreshing nap in summer._

_He heard Jae's exhausted exhale, and realized that he had unknowingly clamped his eyes to bask in the spell's effects. "Done," Jae weakly announced, taking away the pleasant warmth when he withdrew to check his work._

_The sparrow flapped its wings, tentatively at first. Then he was flying, back to the sky where he belonged. They tracked its movements until they couldn't, and their gazes naturally found each other._

_They grinned, Jae's a little shaky, the satisfaction of a job well done swelling in their chests._

That had been nine years ago. Younghyun still wanted him, only now it was in another way.

The sweetness of his smile, the music of his laughter, the heat of his skin, the spaces between his fingers; the wit of his tongue, the dreaminess of his thoughts, the sensitivity of his heart, the pureness of his soul.

Younghyun wanted, and wanted some _more_.

With the way buds blossom under his hands, or how the bushes made way when he walked past, it was easy to forget that Jae might have magic, but he was still human.

Someone whose life would one day expire.

It was something Younghyun had long acknowledged, a thought at the back of his head. He never pondered so deeply about it. (It only ever caused pain to ripple in his heart.)

Until he was reminded the hard way.

It was something that forged bonding between them, picking fruits to share with each other. Sometimes they hunt in the same area, making it a competition as to who could get more. Sometimes they split up, usually with the thought of giving some to Jae's family as well.

It was what they had decided upon that night. Jae had wandered a bit farther from Younghyun, who was occupied with berries.

It happened while Jae was asking the apple tree for permission. He heard the nearby shrubs shrieking **_danger_** , followed by the unmistakable sound of a brittle branch snapping.

He turned to his left, where his gaze met gleaming amber pairs.

Wolves.

Jae held his breath, tensing all muscles in preparation.

Wolves that were ready to _pounce_.

Just his luck.

Jae took a deep breath. He held it, then with all his might, stomped his foot. The trees moved their roots under his influence, making the earth quake and temporarily disorienting the pack.

He wasted no time.

It was hard to see in the early evening and with a bad eyesight as he had. He had to squint while sprinting, which barely helped anyway. It merely succeeded in inducing a slight headache.

The trees abruptly shouted, startling him: **_cliff!_**

_Cliff?!_ He instantly halted, flailing when he almost toppled over and stumbled down a steep cliff. He looked back, to the wolves poised to attack. He instinctively stepped back, miscalculating; his foot slipped, and then he was _falling_.

Younghyun, alerted by the quake and had been tracking the witch, arrived a second too late.

_"Jaehyung!"_ He screamed, raw with shock and horror. The wolves turned their attention to him.

Younghyun had never felt so _livid_.

He felt the surge of power: his human teeth getting razor sharp, his nails turning to claws, his bones and joints growing and repositioning themselves with a sickening crunch, his eyes glowing amber.

Murderous.

In the stead of what once had a human form was a fox, larger than normal— _bigger_ than five wolves combined. Its growl was enough to send the pack cowering, bolting with tails tucked between their legs.

It crouched, fire seeping through the gaps of its canines when it snarled, bracing for a chase.

"Younghyun!"

It stopped. It looked back, to the cliff, where a witch was tangled in vines that slithered like serpents to haul him up.

The fox made a noise of surprise.

It rushed to his side, taking a careful bite of his jeogori to pull him up into further safety.

Jae took uneven huffs of breath, looking up from where he was lying on his front.

He had never seen Younghyun in this form before.

"Young... hyun?"

The fox whined, lying on its front as well to match his level. Jae timidly reached out, almost flinching when the fox quickly moved to touch its snout to his palm, impatient and longing and _sad_. Jae melted at the action.

But suddenly, the fox's skin started emitting white tendrils of smoke. Jae shot up, heart leaping in fear. "Younghyun! Wha—oh."

He watched as the fox's body deflated, slowly giving way to human features until _his_ Younghyun was back, naked and... crying.

Jae couldn't even be flustered at the amount of skin being flashed to him before Younghyun was charging forward, almost toppling him over. Jae looked around, finding Younghyun's clothes tattered on the soil.

"The evening is cold, Younghyun. You must take my—"

"F-forgive me."

Jae blinked, mind still hazy. "What?"

"I could not s-save you in t-time, I could not—I'm sorry, so sorry."

"It was in no way _your_ fault—"

Younghyun shook his head against Jae's shoulder, the strong arms around his torso unfaltering. "No, no, I should have known—"

"What has passed has passed. Dwelling will yield nothing but pain."

"It is only right for me to hurt."

"No!" Jae gently but firmly pushed Younghyun back, going soft at the sight of his rare tears. He didn't even shed this much at his mother's disappearance. "No, it isn't."

"I would have followed you."

Jae's blood ran cold. "What?" He whispered.

"Had you—had you _died_ , I would have followed you."

It felt an awful lot like the world had ceased. Jae felt faint, from the mere idea—no, it wasn't that.

It was a vow.

"You cannot." His voice trembled, in a mixture of fright and indignation. "You _must_ not."

"I will," Younghyun retaliated, expression the most somber Jae had seen. It was the kind of expression Jae knew he couldn't move; but in this context, he would be damned if he didn't try.

"You must promise me," Jae pleaded desperately. "Even when I depart from this realm, you must go on."

Younghyun crumbled. "I can't, please don't make me go through that, _please_ —"

"Younghyun." Jae cupped his cheeks, thumbing away his tears of agony. They still had time, but Younghyun suddenly felt like it was racing by too fast and he was scrambling after it. Trying to hold onto its sand that slipped through no matter how hard he curled his fingers around it on.

"I can't bear to lose you," he bared himself, gripping the hands that framed his face. "Jae, _Jaehyung_ —"

"Forgive me," Jae finally sobbed. "That I am no being like you, that my mortality threatens us this way. You cannot bear to lose me, but I cannot bear to think of the life you would have wasted should you go after me."

"You wouldn't have to do so, if you were gone."

Jae shook his head. "I have hopes, because darkness is never permanent."

"But you're what gives it light."

Jae let out a shaky breath. "You will find light, another one—"

"I do _not_ desire any other light than you, Jae, you are the only one for me."

"The world is beautiful, Younghyun—" no, Jae couldn't give up "—it awaits you. And in it were people to be met."

Younghyun's expression was steely. "I would rather be bound to hell than free, if freedom meant not having you in my arms."

Jae sniffed. "I could never win against you, can I?"

Younghyun pulled Jae back in his embrace, nuzzling his pale neck. Jae squirmed in faux disgust at the wetness, but they were exchanging hushed giggles.

"I swear to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Should I fail, I will follow you; wherever you may end up in."

Jae shut his eyes tight, and held Younghyun tighter. How could he ever deny Younghyun?

When he himself knew that moving along without Younghyun wasn't a life worth living?

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to post something else but I feel like this has been rotting in my drafts for too long. I've had this since August. LOL And no, they're not a thing here yet.
> 
> Also, titles have always been my weakness. Sorry if it's lame. It refers to the shift in Younghyun's feelings for Jae over the years, in their relationship, and his shift from human to fox. I know, I know. 😭


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